You earn it, they spend it.
That could be the unofficial motto of government in California.
How (and how much) can they tax you, and how fast?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at the NALEO 43rd Annual Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel DTLA in Los Angeles on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a campaign event ahead of Election Day, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, in Nashua, N.H. AP Photo/Reba Saldanha
The California Tax Foundation has an answer: In the last legislative session, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislators imposed $14.3 billion in new taxes on Californians.
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That number would be mind-boggling — were it not so on brand.
The foundation’s report is another demerit for Gavin Newsom as he gears up to run for president in 2028.
It’s also a reminder that politics as usual in California is failing — utterly.
And lastly, it’s a cue for California voters this November: Add to the tax misery at your own risk. Don’t fall for the phony ballot summaries, the sympathetic-cause ruse, or the “other people with pay for it” hokum.
All tax roads lead back to you, eventually.
This, in a state that’s already unaffordable — some would say all but run into the ground.
California has the nation’s highest gas taxes, highest statewide base sales tax rate and highest top personal income tax rate.
A view of homeless people and closed storefronts along a section of Van Nuys Blvd. near the 99 Cents Only Store in Los Angeles, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. David Buchan for Ca Post
Nader Jahanshir fills up at a Shell gas station on Pico Blvd. & La Cienega Blvd. as prices skyrocket in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. David Buchan for Ca Post
Asa Gallagher pumps gas at a Shell gas station on Pico & La Cienega Blvd. as prices skyrocket in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. David Buchan for Ca Post
It has the most extensive, and expensive, regulations in America.
It has an extravagant climate regime that inflates prices for energy, housing — and just about everything else you buy. Gasoline can cost up to $2 more per gallon than it does in other states, for example, and state mandates add tens of thousands of dollars in extra costs to every new home. All this for no discernible difference in the global climate (but plenty of green pork for special interests).
And that’s just the start.
The state also spends billions on a homeless industrial complex that has a financial incentive — i.e., an endless stream of tax dollars for “housing” and “services” — to entrench, not eliminate, the sprawling homeless encampments that degrade Californians’ safety and daily life.
Yet instead of cleaning this up, devising real (not virtue-signaling) solutions, and addressing the state’s lack of affordability, Newsom & Co. just ladle on more taxes.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at the NALEO 43rd Annual Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel DTLA in Los Angeles, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post
Homeless people tap into dodgy wiring near RVs in the Venice area of Venice, Calif., Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
Customers pump gas at a Shell gas station on Pico Blvd. and La Cienega Blvd. as prices rise in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. David Buchan for Ca Post
Per the California Tax Foundation’s report: In the 2025-26 legislative session, Sacramento Democrats considered a staggering 156 proposals to raise taxes by an eye-popping $803 billion in all.
Newsom signed 67 of those measures into law.
He can’t solve California’s many crises, keep his union cronies from pursuing a ruinous “billionaire tax,” or cancel a tax-squandering train to nowhere.
But can make you and your family and neighbors pay more to government.
Indeed, the state’s tax climate is a central reason employers, entrepreneurs and everyday Californians have fled to other states with lower taxes and saner governance.
The “billionaire tax” alone has led multiple billionaires — some reports say at least seven — to leave California, and take with them jobs, ingenuity, resources and the very tax receipts the state is chasing.
State voters on Nov. 3 would do well to defeat this anti-prosperity tax that almost surely would trickle down to millionaires and thousandaires eventually.
This mess of high taxes, low affordability and homeless squalor is Gavin Newsom’s legacy, the one he thinks will somehow propel him to the White House.
You earn it, they spend it — and then they insult you by suggesting they should get a promotion.
It’s lunacy.
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